Honkai Star Rail: Destiny Card System of the Multiverse — Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Butterfly Illusion — An Unreleased Event, A PK Between Silver Wolf and Kazuki

“Ms. Herta’s beauty is peerless.”

“Failed.”

“Ms. Herta’s beauty is peerless.”

“Silver Wolf, can you show a little spirit? If you keep this up, I’m actually leaving.”

Kazuki watched the hacker slump against the plush cushions of the sofa. She looked utterly deflated, reciting the mandated praise with the monotone drone of a broken NPC. A dull ache began to throb at his temples.

Is she really an Emanator of Elation? he wondered dryly. Where is all that supposed ‘elation’ energy?

“You wouldn’t happen to be feeling down because Ms. Herta permanently banned seventy-six of your game accounts, would you?” he threw out the guess casually.

The reaction was instantaneous. Silver Wolf bolted upright, her deadpan expression shattering into wide-eyed horror. “What did you just say? She banned seventy-six of my accounts?!”

Swipe. Several translucent holographic screens materialized around her in a flurry of blue light. Cascades of code and server data scrolled across the displays at blinding speed. Two seconds later, she dismissed them all with a sharp wave of her hand.

“The accounts are still there, you liar,” she snapped, rolling her eyes so hard it looked painful. “Ms. Herta? Please. That pointy-headed woman actually thinks she’s worthy of banning my accounts? She can keep dreaming.”

Oh? Not banned yet? The plot has derailed again.

Kazuki kept his thoughts to himself, maintaining a perfectly neutral expression.

A few steps away, Vidyadhara High Elder Baiheng leaned close to Student Himeko, keeping her voice to a hushed whisper. “This young girl actually dares to look down on Ms. Herta? Is she someone important?”

Student Himeko shook her head, her gaze assessing the hacker. “I don’t know, but she looks highly capable.”

Catching the exchange, Silver Wolf let out a long, exaggerated sigh. She glared at the trio. “Can you stop trying to force me to shout ‘Ms. Herta’s beauty is peerless’? I am a living legend of Punklorde. If I sincerely praised other people that easily, the cosmos would have swallowed me whole by now. There wouldn’t even be a scrap of bone left.”

“Fine, then I’m leaving.” Kazuki didn’t waste a single breath arguing. He spun on his heel and headed for the door. He might trust Elio’s script, but that didn’t mean he was a slave to Destiny’s Slave’s commands.

If Silver Wolf refused to meet his terms, why should he let her restrict his freedom? Perhaps taking a detour to visit Jingliu would yield a better drop rate for his time.

“I said, you are not allowed to leave!”

The hacker’s voice dropped several degrees, her brows knitting together in genuine irritation.

Did he really think she had a good temper? If it weren’t for the strict requirements of the script, she wouldn’t have wasted a single second reasoning with the guy who had actually killed Blade once. It was a miracle she hadn’t just ambushed him the moment he walked in.

As her words hung in the air, rings of pale blue data illuminated around her calves, casting a neon glow over her fishnet stockings. She stomped her sneaker hard against the floor. The Aether-bound ring around her thigh vibrated with a sharp, mechanical click.

Reality glitched.

The polished floorboards of the suite instantly dissolved into a shimmering, iridescent grid of light. Millions of vibrant pixel particles erupted from the ground, floating upward like digital snow, while the surrounding walls were aggressively overwritten by an endless, starry void.

In the span of a single breath, the luxurious hotel room had been entirely replaced by a virtual game space—a contingency trap she had coded well in advance.

“This is an exclusive domain I built using Aether Editing. Give it up, you can’t log out.” Silver Wolf crossed her arms, a smug, victorious smirk pulling at the corners of her lips.

The moment the environment shifted, Vidyadhara High Elder Baiheng raised her hand, the Abyssal Pearl glowing with latent power. Beside her, Student Himeko tightened her grip on the heavy greatsword forged by Master Smith Yingxing. Both women dropped into combat stances, their eyes locked on the Punklorde hacker.

The air grew heavy with tension, yet Kazuki didn’t even flinch. He casually paced in place, watching the digital grid beneath his boots light up with every step.

“A pocket dimension built on Aether Editing. Very interesting.” He glanced up at Silver Wolf, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips. “But can your code withstand the sharp edge of an Emanator of The Hunt?”

He delivered the threat with the casual tone of someone discussing the weather. “Ever since I walked out of the Shackling Prison, I’ve been under Jing Yuan’s direct surveillance. If I were to shout for the General right now, I guarantee he would arrive with the might of the Divine Foresight and shatter this little server of yours within a minute.”

This was the ultimate play—borrowing someone else’s aggro!

Using Jing Yuan’s watchful eye to pressure her. Even if Kazuki’s relationship with the General was strained, would Silver Wolf really dare to call the bluff? Would she gamble her life on the chance that an Emanator of The Hunt couldn’t lock onto her coordinates?

“Despicable!”

Silver Wolf puffed out her cheeks, grinding her teeth in pure frustration.

Kazuki spread his hands, letting out a dry, unapologetic laugh. “Let’s review the conditions, Silver Wolf. Either you sincerely shout ‘Ms. Herta’s beauty is peerless,’ or you drop the domain and leave right now—”

Her breathing hitched with anger, a faint flush of red rising to her cheeks. She grabbed the heavy backpack she had hauled in, slammed it onto the digital floor, and rummaged inside. With a metallic clatter, she yanked out a sleek, silver-gray visor and hurled it straight at Kazuki.

Swoosh.

He caught it effortlessly.

“Put the gear on! Play a round with me!” Silver Wolf demanded, pointing a finger at him. “If I win, you stay put, shut your mouth, and let me crush you to vent my frustration for Blade. If you win, I’ll take the loss. I’ll sincerely shout that stupid line without missing a single syllable! Do you have the guts?!”

Kazuki turned the metallic helmet over in his hands, studying its sleek Xianzhou design with genuine confusion. “What exactly is this?”

“It’s the hottest entertainment console on the Luofu right now—the Butterfly Illusion! It feeds you one-hundred-percent realistic sensory feedback, completely indistinguishable from reality. But I’ve jailbroken it. It will pull your data body directly into my Aether space. Well? Are you taking the bet or dodging?”

Hearing the name, the pieces clicked into place for Kazuki.

To put it in layman’s terms, the Butterfly Illusion was a high-end hallucinogenic VR rig, engineered by combining Foxian pheromones with advanced Xianzhou craftsmanship. It dragged the user’s consciousness into a phantasmagoria—a dreamscape so vivid it blurred the line between fiction and reality, perfect for both immersive gaming and cinematic viewing.

He recalled reading a passage in Dan Shu’s Diary. The Master Alchemist had once attempted to use a modified version of this exact technology to bypass her blindness and restore her sight. Unfortunately, the experiment had ended in failure.

The device was wildly popular across the Luofu, but there was a catch. Many of the limited-edition phantasmagorias were age-restricted, requiring the user to be several centuries old just to boot them up, which severely bottlenecked its player base.

Kazuki had actually tried to get his hands on one during his earlier travels on the Luofu. To his immense disappointment, his unique physiology rendered the Foxian pheromones completely useless. He hadn’t felt a single hallucinogenic effect.

If some random local had jumped out back then and argued, ‘That’s not right! The most popular game on the Luofu is clearly the Hexanexus!’Kazuki would have simply patted them on the shoulder and said,’If you find twisting a broken Rubik’s cube that entertaining, your brain is already fried. Go play a real game and stop torturing yourself.’

But now? A jailbroken Butterfly Illusion had practically been hand-delivered to him. Win or lose, getting to finally experience the tech was a massive profit!

As for escorting two beautiful women on a shopping trip? Forget it. Gaming took priority.

He looked up, meeting Silver Wolf’s challenging glare. “No problem. But first, let my two companions log out. They wanted to explore the Luofu, so let’s not waste their time here.”

Beside him, Vidyadhara High Elder Baiheng and Student Himeko nodded eagerly, their eyes sparkling with anticipation. They had been looking for an excuse to slip away and go sightseeing for a while now; after all, their manifestation time in this world was strictly limited.

Silver Wolf clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Tch. Fine.” She waved her hand dismissively, instantly purging the two women’s data from the Aether space and sending them back to reality.

Once they were gone, she turned her attention back to Kazuki. She raised her hand, giving him a slow, deliberate thumbs-down, her eyes filled with the absolute disdain of a pro looking at a bronze-tier noob.

“Tsk.” Kazuki smirked, slapping the silver helmet onto his head. “You better not use any cheat codes, you little wolf cub.”